Young Bo Whimple, perhaps the quietest of the three councilmen, was sitting behind the long rectangular desk with a cup of Arian coffee in his left hand and a pencil in his right, which he slowly and methodically tapped on the metallic surface of the desk. In his mind he was in a turmoil of emotions. He hated Hurd and what he stood for, and yet he had to pretend to agree with his plans. He had to protect his family.
He shifted his weight in the form-fitting chair and set the pencil down in front of him. He knew there would be another fight today between Juez and Hurd. Among the minor squabbles there was always one of two issues which would become a heated feud between the two of them—either the raising of city taxes or the building of an army and an air force.
Neither of them would give in, so every week one of these two issues was put on the agenda and brought up again—another fight.
Bo thought about Hurd's shouting tantrums which never did any good since Juez would always have the upper hand. The law was written such that it took a unanimous decision by the council to pass changes in the constitution or changes which dealt with taxes, and since Juez was holding out, Hurd would never get his motions passed, unless, of course, he found a way to get rid of Juez. And it surprised Bo that this hadn't already happened.
Twelve years ago Bo was nothing more than a stock boy, not even a glorified stock boy, on the third floor of the tower. He was scraping out a living with a meager wage by running errands, keeping the secretaries stocked with office supplies, and by keeping the stockroom in order and up to date. Then one day Hurd stepped off the etron mover on the third floor, looked around at the personnel, saw Bo, and called him over. "I've heard good things about you, son—you're intelligent, you have a good personality, and most importantly, you get along with those around you, and you always do what you're told."
"Yes sir," stammered Bo, not knowing how to respond to the most powerful man in the government.
"I guess you've heard the bad news about Councilman Hy Landers?"
"No sir."
The corners of Hurd's mouth turned down. "Early this morning Mr. Landers met with an unfortunate accident, either that or he committed suicide. Either way, he fell thirty stories to his death." He paused for a moment of silence as a show of respect for the recently departed, and then he continued. "An hour later two of the other councilmen resigned. I guess they couldn't stand the stress of big city business." He put his hand on Bo's shoulder. "Anyway, out of bad things oftentimes come good things, and this is good for you because I'm making you one of the new councilmen."
Bo was shocked by this sudden turn of events, "I thought councilmen had to be elected."
"Actually," said Hurd with a tone of serious business in his voice, "we've passed a new law which allows the head councilman to appoint new members to the council."
And that was that.
Later Bo was to realize that Hurd had never read a file on him nor had he ever seen him before that day. Here was a timid looking stock boy who would be easy to manipulate, easy to bully into passing any new law which Hurd saw as an enhancement to his station. But what Hurd didn't know, and maybe it didn't matter since Bo did everything Hurd wanted, was that Bo hated him as much or more than anybody in the city because of what he was doing to the people. And, in spite of his unexpected and greatly undeserving raise in position—being a city councilman, and in spite of his greatly increased salary, and his elevated status, Bo had decided a long time ago to do everything in his power to bring Hurd down as hard and as low as possible.
As Bo sat thinking about the past and whether or not it would be possible to overthrow Hurd, the other two councilmen in the room, Went Chen and Tylr Rono were discussing the ramifications of creating an army and an air force for the city.
At no surprise to Bo, Went, playing his role well, was arguing that they should do exactly what Hurd wanted. He was like a dog licking at Hurd's heels and waiting to perform his every command. He pretended to jump, lie, sit, play dead, kill that woman and her baby. It didn't matter what it was, Went would do it.
On the other hand, even though Tylr did whatever Hurd wanted, he still thought it was logical to consider all the alternatives.
Just then the door slid open and Hurd stood in the doorway with a frown on his face. As he surveyed the councilmen he walked across the room and sat in his seat at the head of the council table. "I talked to Juez only a few minutes ago, and he told me he won't be able to make it to the meeting, something about his daughter. So, we'll have the meeting without him." He looked at Went and nodded. "So, let's get started."
Went looked at the agenda sheet in front of him. "The first order of business," he said, "is the Mountain Men. Two days ago one of the clans was attacked on the Pike two miles from the spaceport by armed bandits and every one of them was robbed and killed."
"So what's the order of business?" asked Hurd in a mild surprise, almost bordering on amusement.
"Once again, Everette, the leader of the Unified Clans is requesting an armed escort for the pack trains to and from the space port."
Hurd looked at the three councilmen. "Does anyone have a comment?"
Bo said, "It doesn't seem to be an unreasonable request."
"Nonsense," boomed Hurd. "We have enough problems of our own without taking on those of the renegade Mountain Clans. If we start financing an armed guard along the pike, then we'll have to more than double the city taxes." Hurd paused for a moment, then lowered his voice. "I'm only thinking of the people of our fair city. If the Mountain men want more protection, let them pay for it themselves, after all they have the money." Hurd paused. "Any more comments?"
Since no one said anything Hurd asked for a vote to have the Mountain Clans pay for their own protection along the Pike. Everyone raised their hand except Bo, who slowly raised his hand after a glare from Hurd.
"Good," said Hurd. "Now, what's next on the agenda?"
Went looked at his sheet. "Memorial services will be held in two days for the policemen who were killed while capturing the rebels two weeks ago. Eulogies will be given at the Earth Christ Church and, as usual, black arm bands will be required."
Hurd slapped his hand on the desk. "They were good men, damn it, doing their jobs, keeping these nasty rebels at bay, and keeping them from their desire of tearing our great city apart." He looked solemn for a moment. "Damn those rebels,—they were great men. And who had to inform the wives of their deaths? Why, me, of course."
Went scribbled on the sheet. "Will you be attending the services, sir?"
"Of course I will, as will all of you," said Hurd firmly. He looked from one councilman to the next as they nodded in agreement. "Now what's next on the agenda?"
"The plans to build an army and an air force, sir."
"Ah," exclaimed Hurd. "I have good news. Juez told me today that he will give his consent to build the armed forces. He feels, like me, that we need the means to protect ourselves from any possible invasion from foreign powers."
Went clapped his hands several times.
"But," continued Hurd. "We'll have to put off the vote until next week when Juez is present." Hurd smiled. "Since we know what his vote is going to be, however, we can go ahead and start the preliminaries. Went, you take care of it."
"What about the other cities?" asked Bo. "What about our treaty with the other cities which clearly states that no city will build nor maintain an army nor an air force?" Bo tapped the desk with his pencil twice, then laid it down.
"Nothing to worry about," said Hurd. "I recently made a pact with the Galaef, and he's going to back us."
Bo whimple raised his hand. "I thought the Galaef wasn't supposed to get involved in planetary politics?"
"There are always exceptions to the rule. And since we mine a valuable commodity on Ar, we have become the exception. It's time to unify this planet under one government. Now that we have the Galaef backing us, the opposition will be virtually non-existent."
"Yes, you're right," said W
ent, "this planet needs to be unified."
Tylr nodded his head in agreement.
"Next," said Hurd.
"Sir," said Went "they're making a few minor adjustments on the new arena, and it has been reported that it will be completed within the next week."
"Good. Good," replied Hurd.
"Also, I was informed this morning that we now have enough runners to start the run."
"Excellent," said Hurd. "Then we will have the run one week from today in the new arena."
He stood up indicating the meeting had come to an end. Things are looking good, he thought. If all goes well tomorrow, if Thorne can pull off the usurpation of the Galaef, then, at the very least, I will become the ruler of Ar. If Thorne fails, I’ll pretend I was forced to be a part of it.
Chapter Twenty-Seven